Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Festival of Indra: Innovation, Archaism, and Revival in a South Asian Performance

The Festival of Indra: Innovation, Archaism, and Revival in a South Asian Performance

Baltutis, Michael

Hardcover

Series: Suny Hindu Studies

AnthropologyHinduismIndian & South Asian History

ISBN10: 1438493339
ISBN13: 9781438493336
Publisher: St Univ Of New York Pr
Published: Jun 1 2023
Pages: 284
Weight: 1.01
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

Details the textual and performative history of the South Asian festival of Indra and its role in the development of classical Hinduism.

The Festival of Indra details the textual and performative history of an important South Asian festival and its role in the development of classical Hinduism. Drawing on various genres of Sanskrit textual sources-especially the epic Mahābhārata-the book highlights the innovative ways that this annual public festival has supported the stable royal power responsible for the sponsorship of these texts. More than just a textual project, however, the book devotes significant ethnographic attention to the only contemporary performance of this festival that adheres to the classical Sanskrit record: the Indrajatra of Kathmandu, Nepal. Here, Indra's tall pole remains the festival's focal point, though its addition of the royal blessing by Kumari, the living goddess of Nepal, and the regular presence of the fierce god Bhairav show several significant ways that ritual agents have re-constructed this festival over the past two thousand years.

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